Domestic Tourism in China Sees Significant Recovery in First Half of 2022
According to data recently released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, domestic tourism in China has shown significant signs of recovery in the first half of this year. The total number of domestic tourists reached 2.384 billion, a year-on-year increase of 63.9%. Additionally, domestic tourism revenue reached 2.30 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.12 trillion yuan over the previous year, representing a year-on-year increase of 95.9%.
Ma Yiliang, chief statistician of the China Tourism Academy, stated that the performance of the tourism market in the first half of the year was in line with expectations. The market exhibited continuous acceleration and scattered hotspots, with the prosperity index of the tourism market in the second quarter surpassing that of the first quarter. The popularity of the tourism market has remained high since the ‘May 1st’ holiday, and the summer tourism market has also started to flourish since mid-to-late June.
The concentrated release of holiday travel demand has played a crucial role in driving the market’s recovery. The five small holidays in the first half of the year, including the ‘May 1st’ holiday, have driven the tourism market to maintain steady growth and accelerated recovery. The ‘May 1st’ holiday, in particular, is considered an important milestone for the comprehensive recovery and normalization of the domestic tourism market.
The recovery of the inbound and outbound tourism market is also notable. With the steady recovery of supply chains such as civil aviation, cruise ships, hotels, catering, and destination resource providers, as well as facilitation in visa and port customs clearance policies, the inbound and outbound tourism market has reached its peak since 2020 during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. The resumption of outbound group travel for Chinese citizens to 60 countries on a pilot basis has resulted in a steady and orderly growth trend in outbound tourism.
Ma Yiliang pointed out that the increase in domestic tourism revenue demonstrates the pro-cyclical characteristics of tourism consumption. During the pandemic, people opted for reduced travel or short-distance travel. However, as the recovery progressed, more tourists chose medium and long-distance destinations, leading to a significant increase in single-tour spending. The expansion of tourism consumption has outpaced the expansion of tourist arrivals.
In addition to popular tourist destinations such as Sanya, Dali, and Xi’an, other destinations like Luoyang, Zibo, Linyi, Zhanjiang, and Shantou have also witnessed rapid recovery in tourism. This can be attributed to the pull of new tourism formats. The first half of the year saw outstanding performances in event tourism, children or school-organized educational tours, night tourism, and sports tourism.
Wu Ruoshan, a special researcher at the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, emphasized the importance of exploring the needs of the youth group in the tourism market. Wu also highlighted that the boundaries of the tourism industry are constantly expanding, with ‘tourism +’ becoming a new engine for economic and social development.
As the tourism market enters the “second half” in July, the popularity of the market is expected to rise due to the summer vacation of students and the increase in parent-child tours and study tours. Hot weather has also led many individuals to prioritize summer travel. According to online travel platforms, ticket bookings for air travel and train travel for the summer vacation have entered a period of rapid growth since June 23, with some domestic travel product orders exceeding the levels seen in 2019.
All regions are actively preparing for the summer tourism peak and the tourism market in the second half of the year. Several provinces, including Hubei, Henan, Hunan, Guangdong, and Shandong, have announced plans to issue cultural and tourism consumption coupons from June to July. These measures aim to promote various forms of tourism, including summer tourism, cultural and museum tourism, research and study tourism, and theme park tourism.
Looking ahead, Wu Ruoshan predicts that the second half of the year will see an increase in the number of tourist arrivals and income. With the increasing frequency and depth of tourism activities, the release of personalized tourism demand will accelerate and contribute to the growth of the tourism market.
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Editor: Zhang Ziyi